The biggest edition yet of Malta’s biggest techno festival returned for another 2 days of techno heavyweights firmly cementing itself on the European techno festival calendar.
As thousands of techno fanatics from across the globe walked up the windy roads towards Gianpulla Village on Monday evening with a drink in their hand and the heat basking down the excitement for Glitch festival was almost tangible.
With Malta being the 10th smallest country in the world and with a population of only 515,000 the excitement was actually felt days and days before with posters lining the streets and constant reminders that Glitch was here, and the lineup spoke for itself headlined by the likes of Charlotte De Witte, I Hate Models, Paula Temple, Kobosil and many others.
Within hours the sense of the crowd and the vibe of the next 2 days was clear, with everyone genuinely there for the music and the love of the genre rather than the scenes we see at bigger and more popular festivals where the wave of phones in the air is more popular than two hands nowadays. This was most evident over at the Orbit Stage where ‘Unreal Germany’ took over the stage on day two with a heavy packed lineup. Brutalismus 3000 took to the Orbit on day two and had the literal stage shaking with tracks like ‘Romantika ’ and ‘ALLIEINE ’. Now while the pair from Berlin have only been releasing tracks on Spotify since 2020 they could of been worthy headliner’s themselves which did leave their 8:30pm set time up for debate. During ‘Satan Was A Babyboomer’ the elevated stages on both sides of the stage were shaking and the crowd was bouncing and it really highlighted how great the Orbit stage is, with different levels and the crowd almost in a U shape it elevated the atmosphere even more. The stage also seen techno heavyweights such as 999999999 close the stage and the likes of SPFDJ, Klangkuenstler and CLTX pass through with some unbelievable sets full of hard and industrial techno.
As the night came at Glitch Festival the Fortress stage came to life with its lights visible from the whole site and on Monday night the stage was packed to see I Hate Models who played a relentless 90 minutes set which was a masterclass on trance and techno and it’s clear to see why the French producer is so sought after right now. ‘I Want You To Stay ’ by BCKYRD was a real highlight with its catchy vocals and melody with its hard hitting drums. One of the only few problems Glitch had was the sound levels and this was evident at the start of I Hate Models’ set as the sound of people talking was actually louder than the hard techno coming out of the speakers at times, this seemed to pick up fairly quickly through the set thankfully and seemed even louder the next day after some comments left on their Instagram which seemed to get the message across.
The overall care for the environment and the people was clear at Glitch with stages always busy but never too overcrowded which was down to a one in one out system which actually gave people the chance to dance rather than be squashed like sardines like seen at many European festivals before. The drinks an actual reasonable price with €4.5/£3.80 for a Vodka and €2.50/£2.10 for a water which is very reasonable compared to the atrocious prices we see at the likes of Warehouse Projects and other big events/festivals, and yes Glitch let attendees keep the lid for their water. In order to keep littering down to a minimum attendees had to buy a reusable cup for €2.50/£2.10 and then could reuse that cup all weekend which actually made a huge difference to the normal sight of scattered cups and bottles on the floor.
The unique stages at Gianpulla Village is what set it out from others, the Boiler Room was bouncing from start to finish with the likes of Marlon Hoffstadt, Patrick Mason and Cera Khin behind the decks bringing the energy. The Midnite stage which towered above the rest of the festival site 3 floors high provided a real intimate experience being the smallest stage. The stage seen local Sean Rickett open up on Monday with some house and techno and seen MCR-T close that day with real groove in the music and positive energy which fed into the crowd which led to real energy on the dance floor.
The Cosmic stage was a real fan favourite with the stage in and amongst trees overarching and similar to the Orbit stage various levels to really create an atmosphere. The stage had a star studded lineup both days flirting between techno and trance with the likes of Franck, Skin on Skin, KI/KI, Partiboi69, Kettema b2b Tommy Holohan, X Club and of course DJ Heartstring. DJ Heartstring played 2 hours of pure euphoria with popular tracks like ’Never Let Me Go ’ ringing around the stage and ‘Can’t Stop The Night ’ which had people climbing and dancing up the trees. Like all of their sets the German pair boasted their unreleased catalogue with Shazam being no use in finding these gems.
The organisers have already announced next year’s edition and with the hype and buzz the videos have brought to it on social media it looks to be a sell out. Glitch Festival have cemented themselves as a staple on the European techno festival calendar. They’ve shown big production and big stages don’t always work for the better and if they can fix some minor problems and keep the ravers at heart like this year, there’s no reason why Glitch won’t be upheld as one of the best in Europe come 2024.